Albuquerque New Mexico Oh yea Santa Fe too

Founders in 1706 as a Spanish colony and sitting in the high desert, Albuquerque is New Mexicos largest City, it was named after a Spanish administrator and viceroy of Mexico, Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, Duke of Alburquerque....they had super long names back in the day... but what a fun city, we had a blast.. we went to a alpaca farm and I got kisses from a couple of beautiful alpacas....if you know anything about alpacas you know how rare that is because only when they know their owners and feel very confident around them and only then, they may allow their backs and necks to be touched and some will tolerate being stroked or petted although many do not like their feet, lower legs, and especially their abdomen touched or handled....so it was treat when they crowed around me and two of them offered kisses!  

(They knew a Alpaca lover when they saw one) this farm was located off the on turquoise trail, now the Turquoise Trail Highway links Albuquerque and Santa Fe with lots of whimsical historic mining towns along the way, most of them have been taken over by artists ...course the name comes from the blue-green turquoise stone, first mined by the early Pueblo people this stone has become nationally recognized and is linked with New Mexico and Nevada, the Trail is also fast becoming known for its adventurous hiking and bike trails and in spite of the recent growth to the area, The Turquoise Trail remains historically quaint and Old West. 

We drove up to the Sandia Mountain Crest and hiked some of the trails there is a small hut at the very top of the mountain.

Insert photo

Great hiking!

We went to Old Town, thand of course the Museum of Natural Histry..where they had lots of dinosaurs!

 I chose a RV park that was located almost half way from Albuquerque and Santa Fe so we could explore both cities.

Santa Fe was founded as a Spanish colony in 1610 and is New Mexico’s capital. It sits in the Sangre de foothills and it is renowned for it Pueblo style architecture. Santa Fe is now one of the most regarded art centers in the world and Canyon Road has the highest concentration of art galleries in the city so we toured around and visited some art galleries. What a beautiful and interesting city! 

this then drove around the surrounding historic district’s crooked streets that wind past many adobe landmarks, including the Palace of the Governors, now home to the New Mexico History Museum we saw some wonderful old pueblo buildings!  

Texas..texas...texas...it just keeps on going!

I forgot how big Texas is! We left Louisiana in a hurry along with Mississippi and Alabama so I thought we could scoot right thru Texas too..wrong answer...we stop in Houston for a couple of days to do a bit of repairs on Esprit and then it was on to Waco...we found an Army-corps of Engineers park and it was sweet! We went to Magnolias Market, it is a store owned by Chip and Joanna Gaines, they have a show on HGTV...they are home fixer uppers.. I don’t watch the show, but thought it would be fun to go there! It was!

 The campsite we stayed at was so wonderful, we stayed and extra day so we saw a little bit more of Waco. I really liked Waco it is a wonderful town! 

Then it was on to West Texas... Goree Texas....to visit some of our old sailing buddies...who now are land barons. 

You can buy land really cheep here, and there’s lots of it! I’m not a fan of such wide open spaces but a-lot of people are..so if thats the case come on down! 
Tumbleweeds roll across the road along with roadrunners and coyotes so you think you are in the funny pages! 

beep beep

first RV

town square

mom wait up

moo

Molly

Molly and Mario

The wind blows a gale here its not uncommon for the wind to blow 50 to 70 mph. 

so we are moving on...

New Mexico here we come....

0

Driving..driving..driving

Driving...driving...driving, you do a lot of that in a RV, now, when we sailed, there was no one around, nothing to watch for, when you drive one of these monsters you have to be on alert constantly, keeping your focus on the road and on other drivers! On Adagio we would put our sails up and of course one of us stayed in the cockpit, but we would go down below to make a sandwich or use the head...this does not happen when you are driving...you can’t leave the wheel! 

We also look for fuel stations ....a lot....we had Adagio for 7 years and I think we only put fuel in her maybe four times...but these things drink fuel like crazy! And let me tell you, finding a fuel station that

1. Has diesel
2. Can fit Esprit...pulling Bender our Jeep

3. Easy to get into 

4.  Easy to get out of....are hard to find and sometimes it takes us two or three tries just to get fuel. I also noticed that I am on watch more in the RV than on the sailboat, plus I wear my seatbelt when we are driving, so I have to set still and that is hard for me! Food is not an issue, because like a snail or a turtle, we have our home with us and I can just wander to the frig and get something to eat, or feed Pierre when he is at the wheel. Sometimes we can find a restaurant that we can stop at but that is very rare. We stayed at a RV park the other day in Egan La. that had a large pond so of course there were ducks, they had a couple of nest with so many eggs. 

They had coypu in the pond, also known as the nutria, this is a large, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent. It has been classified for a long time as the only member of the family Myocastoridae, but they were cute and the owner said that they keep the grass down in the pond so he lets them stay. 

Lots of tongue

I find myself wanting to say something thoughtful and insightful now that we have started this new adventure...So here it goes...Celebrate the small wins along the way, celebrate life's daily wins...don’t lose sight of all the meaningful moments and forget how to enjoy this life we have now, be spontaneous and adventurous go outside and find your happy place! I feel lighter when we leave everything behind us and head out on a new adventure. I love the different perspectives you get when you stop, step back and look at things from a unconventional angle, sometimes that is all it takes to see things differently and change the way you think of something. Make the most of life because life is hard and it takes more time to see everything than life gives us! The only thing we need to stay focused on is bettering ourselves, when we are not focused on ourselves, I think that’s not healthy for us! 

There...that’s my thoughtful insight!

We are finally headed to Alaska..this was going to be our first adventure, but things did not work out that way and last year we headed in a different direction. East not West..but we had great time and all things happen as they should. 

Now.... my son and daughter-in-law have left Kansas and they are in Georgia, so we went up there to say our see ya laters to Kristin and the kids!  (Jordan is deployed)

We stayed in a small RV park just on the outskirts of Columbus off highway 165, we were about 20 minutes from Jordan and Kristin’s house! This worked out great...we had a grand time with the kids and with Kristin, we went to Wild Animal Safari and what a hoot...so much fun!  

I am going to miss them, but we will see them in the fall when we get home!

After we left Columbus we headed west via the southern route, the weather is going to be a bear....so we will stay south. 

Day after day

In this time that we live in, it can be hard to take the time for ourselves with our busy schedules and hectic lives, we think about all the stuff we don’t have and that can making us blind to the amazing people and things we do have. We all need to try and love ourself, because when we love ourselves it is easy to love others and see all the good things we have. We need to treat ourselves kindly, gently and with the respect and dignity that we deserve then we can trust and believe in who we are and have the courage and faith to go for what we want! Live each day as if it is your last... I love that saying, but it is so hard to do that because everyday life gives us all its own unique challenges....I am awoken by Navi (our cat) every morning..and I mean EVERY MORNING...sometime as early as 5am..with his kitty kisses and wet cold nose...I try to hide from him under the covers, but he will dig and dig till he too is under the covers and then he try’s so hard to get me to get up. Sometimes....when he comes under the covers, he will curl up beside me and I will lay my hand on his soft warm fur and think how lucky I am and we will both go back to sleep, but that doesn’t happen very and I am left dealing with getting up very early in the morning! I try to realize that  this is not such a bad thing…a good thing really...even though I want to go back to sleep….when you get up early, there is so much to see..the sunrise, the birds waking up, calling to each other and the neighborhood stirring, but again, this is a challenge I must deal with every morning, so I am trying to make the best of it.....We need to take every moment, make the best of it, reflect on our lives and think about all the good things we have and be greatful for them, life is so unpredictable so its important to live in the moment. I have found when someone asks me how I am and I say “I am Excellent,” most people tend to smile and nod, I think if you say it enough it will be true and we all can be excellent!

Goodby to Vinn Diesel

We have lost a valuable member of team Lesne. Vinn Diesel, our Jeep Liberty Diesel went to that great junk yard in the sky...Pierre was driving through an intersection when a one ton truck pulled out in front of him, he hit the truck on the side and that was all it took to total Vinn, Pierre wasn’t hurt....Thank goodness! The driver of the truck had insurance...Geico....and after a couple days of fighting them we got what we wanted for Vinn and they towed him off... I did have a tear in my eye! 

Now the real fun started, we had to find a car that could be towed with all four tires on the road...that window is getting quite small, all the new Jeeps they have come out with in the passed few years can not be towed that way without transmission pumps..etc....After some deliberation we decided on a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara Edition, they can be towed and they have 4 wheel drive. I drove a couple of them and there was not much difference between the Sahara and the Rubicon, just fluff stuff, so I decided on the Sahara. I found one at Bay Lincoln Dodge, it is silver with standard transmission and I fell in love with it. After looking for about a week we ended up back at the silver one. When I had them run the car fax, I found out that this car had come from San Antonio Texas...ahhh that explains it, a fellow Texan and that it had only one owner! When we bought Esprit, we were only the second owners....same with the Jeep!  We bought it! 

Now to put the tow package on and get it ready for the adventures that await! Soon we will be on the road again and headed for Alaska.